Cooked up some broccoli

In Harvard, backyard composting is easy.  We've been doing it for a few years and love the end product, it really helps the garden!  We also love keeping organics out of the solid waste stream.

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Switch to an electric lawnmower today! It helps you use less gasoline, which can save you money on fuel. Electric lawnmowers (brands like Ego and Black and Decker) are more efficient than lawnmowers that run on fuel (brands like Toro and Powersmart). They run quietly, so you can mow your yard without bothering your neighbors. Plus, they don’t produce emissions, making them better for the environment and helping to clean the air. With features like easy starting, lightweight design, and low maintenance, an electric lawnmower can be a better way to mow!

I invested in Rivian stock to help save the enviorment and provide more money for companies who have the same dream as me. For our planet to prosper and advance in the most green ways possible. I Invested $2,048 into this stock to power. I saved up from my blood sweat and tears to buy this stock. I hope my investment was worth it both for my money and for my beautiful planet called Earth.

After switching our home over to electric heat pumps, we had solar panels installed as well. We absolutely love having solar, we don't pay for any electricity for more than half the year, and with our solar batteries, we haven't had a power outage since their installation. Would absolutely recommend for anyone interested in switching to electric based heating. 

We installed whole home heat pumps after purchasing our home in 2022, and we absolutely love them! They heat and cool the house so well, and are very energy efficient.

We purchased an electric vehicle in December 2024. This car is fun to drive with lots of power and comfort. I'm unsure why more people don't choose an EV for their locale travel. No gas stations; less car maintenance; and plenty of zip -- seems like a no brainer to me!

we switched to LEDs made sense.

Our family bought a home built in 1778 several years ago. When we moved in, it had no plumbing, an oil boiler that was installed in the 1950s, and it had antique single-paned (often broken) windows. Our energy bill during our first winter was over $7000- and this was with us setting our thermostats to 55 degrees!

We contacted Mass Energy Save, and got a free audit. They identitied a number of programs that we qualified for- they provided us with free LED lights, weatherized our doors and windows, and helped us receive significant tax credits and low-interest loan programs to purchase an efficient heating system, replace our windows, and insulate our house. We now pay much less each month for heat (and our thermostats are higher!), and it's made a big impact on our climate footprint.

There is much we can individually do but it will take more than individual actions to head off the impacts of climate change.  I consistently follow the state House and Senate bills on climate and reach out to my representatives when I feel they need to hear our support or non-support for a particular bill. This can make big difference when they can report out what messages they are receiving from their recipients.  It is important that we do this if we want to have greater success. 

We do not hire contractors for house projects easily. So we know that we would not have installed a ducted heat pump without the help from our Harvard Energy Coach. He was very responsive and gave us the confidence to move ahead. Our oil furnace and  air conditioner were close to 40 years old and we knew we needed to do something soon. After attending the meeting at the General Store in early 2023, we moved forward, starting with the free energy audit and more insulation (most of which was paid for by MassSave).

Our coach provided us with a list of heat pump contractors who had done work in this area and recommended that we get proposals from 5 contractors. He said we would learn something different from each contractor, and he was right. Most of the proposals came in with similar equipment and pricing, so we narrrowed the list down to two to focus on. We ended up choosing Advanced Mechanical Devices because we liked the people that came to the house and that we talked to in the office. We highly recommend AMD.

We are very happy with our new equipment and how it has heated the house this winter (2024). We expect to be happy with the air conditioning, this summer, as well. We got about $5k in rebates from MassSave and it looks like we'll get at least $2600 in tax credits. We also worked with Workers Credit Union to get a no-interest loan that covered the work we had done. They were very easy to work with - and quick!

We started composting in earnest when we started having to buy the green trash bags for the town transfer station. It's been kind of a game to see how much we can compost rather than throw away. We keep a small bucket from Oxo on the kitchen counter for plant food scraps, as well as egg shells, coffee grounds, used coffee filters, tea bags and used paper napkins. We added the paper scraps when we realized our compost pile would work better with some "brown" materials. We fill the bucket daily - and because we are lazy and it was a pain to take the bucket out to the compost pile every day - we keep a 5-gallon bucket in the garage to empty it into. To this bucket we add plain egg cartons and toilet paper rolls, torn into pieces. Every week or so we empty the big bucket into the compost pile and mix it in with a pitchfork.  We also add grass clippings and other plant materials to this pile. Our weekly trip to the transfer station includes just one small green bag - everything else is composted or recycled.

After 9 years of heating/cooling with Mini-splits, we decided to switch to geothermal heating and cooling. Massachusetts Geothermal was excellent to work with, throughout the process and communicated well. We have been very happy with the installation and performance of the Climatemaster systems, and are enjoying the quality of the climate control. Smooth, consistent heating and cooling that moves the air gently throughout the house and keeps us comfortable all the time.

Earlier this year our heating system failed on one of the coldest days!  We met with Dave an amazing energy coach who jumped into action, helping us evaluate and understand our situation by analyzing our consumption and energy use and then evaluating our proposals. Christie Cooling and heating installed our new heat pump quickly and we were able to get the Mass Save Rebate to cover one third of the cost!

This is not a testimonial but a query.  I've heard that indoor storm windows can greatly improve the efficiency of your windows (especially in winter) without having to replace the window.   Has anyone used these?   Pros and Cons?   They look great on the web but I have to wonder if in a larger window (say 30" x 60") if they are rigid enough?  Do they impact the light coming into the room?

I think I have an ideal application for indoor storm windows but would appreciate any first hand experience with them.

Also, I'm wondering if I can build these myself, perhaps making them blend into the trim of the existing windows a little better. Has anyone out there tried to do this?

You can contact me at: michael.kilian@gmail.com

I really appreciate the hard work the Harvard Climate Initiative has been doing! Happy to include connecting my neighbors to this incredible resource as part of my advocacy.

On that note…I understand that part of the hesitancy to start composting on our own properties has to do with attracting wildlife. I know this is a concern I have! That said, it is hard to get compost pickup in Harvard because we are more remote. To that end: I have been in touch with Black Earth Compost. If we have enough residents preregister, we’ll be able to get access to their services. We only need 100 folks for them to commit to adding us to their route. Here is the link!

https://blackearthcompost.com/

In 2018, under the HeatSmart program, we installed a Ground-Source Heat Pump system for heating and cooling.  One unit in the basement, with new ductwork, handles the first floor,  A second compressor in the basement with air handler in the attic covers the second floor through pre-existing A/C ductwork.  Cooling is much more efficient than our old central A/C.  Heating uses a lot more electrical power, but is still cheaper to run than our old oil-fired baseboard heating (even with more comfortable thermostat settings).

We used Bill Wenzel Heating and A/C for the installation, and Skillings & Sons for drilling the ground-source wells.  Both were highly professional, and we are happy with the results.

We now have three electric bikes which help with Harvard's hills.   Instead of using the car, I visit the pond, library, general store, etc. with my bike weather permitting.

The recumbent is from the Czech Republic and uses a Samsung electric system which is pretty nice.  I have a Specialized Vado 5 which has all the bells and whistles and is exceptionally smooth operating. The Evelo Omega is similar to the Specialized for a lot less but is a little less smooth but still an exceptional ride.  All three are outfitted with Enviolo automatic shifting hubs which I think helps optimize the electricity usage.  Each can go about 50 miles on a charge depending on how much assist you use.

We are excited to share several steps we've taken consistent with the Harvard Climate Initiative!:

1. Converting our hand push lawn mower, weed wacker, snow blower fromn a gas to rechargeable electic, 

2. Purchasing a used plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt with a max charge of about 60 miles,

3. Installing rooftop solar to power hot water and electricity, and

4. Composting in our backyard.

Jenny and Tom Gormley

Early in 2023 we attended a meeting at the General Store about heat pumps. We decided to follow through with the help of MassSave and a Harvard energy coach from the Energize Initiative. But first, we needed to do a free energy audit which determined that we needed to add "a lot" of additional insulation in our attic. Rogers Insulation also did quite a bit of air sealing, insulated the door between the attic and the house and put insulation strips around our front door and the door between the garage and the house. We wanted to keep some flooring in the attic for storage and Rogers was very accomodating with making that happen. Most of the cost of the insulation was covered by MassSave. We were very happy with Rogers Insulation and highly recommend them.

P.S. We had nearly 40 years of stuff in our large attic - this project was just the thing we needed to motivate us to get rid of most of it!

Co-president of the Green Team at TBS. Leading a projects on EV charging stations, compositing bins, and more.

We have had an EV for a couple years. It took awhile to realize we could plug it into a home outlet without some special home charging station. The cost savings is obvious. The electrical cost is minimal, much less than the cost of gas for a similar car. 

We have recently started shopping at Springdell Farm in Littleton. It sells the most beautiful variety of produce, including (but not limited to!) blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, green beans, etc, and many items are picked fresh daily. Springdell is also women-owned, and based right in our community. In addition to produce, Springdell sells a variety of meat which is also produced on the farm. Given how harmful the factory farming industry is, it is especially important to be mindful about where we buy our meat. Springdell's is local, fresh, and produced using practices that are kind to the planet and the animals. If you've been looking for a way to shop for good, local food, this is the place!

https://www.springdellfarms.com/

Last winter we installed a heat pump powered air conditioner. The bonus was it also provides supplemental heat, which offsets our oil use a little bit. No more high energy window units and we can easily get fresh air too. When the temps get really high, the unit still cools but wont over work, it balances indoor temp with outdoor temps. We are very happy with this home upgrade and highly recommend Advanced Mechanical. 

We installed heat pumps a few years ago when we gave in to adding A/C.  For some reason that I can't explain, the quality of our heat is so much improved  - more even and comfortable.  For the A/C we run it at a high temperature during bad heat waves and the result is reduced humidity - also very even, comfortble and not overly chilly.  We have solar panels and the only downside is the increase to our electrical usage, but that is nicely offset by savings on oil for the furnace.

I learned composting from my mother - way before composters were readily available, she would just throw all vegetable waste directly back into her veggie garden and let it break down over time.  We have a fantastic composter which we have used with huge success for 30 years - you can't beat the nutrition-rich black gold that we can add back into our veggie garden.

This is easy to do if the airline offers a carbon offset.  Just check the box.  Simple.

Love reading in The Harvard Press what's fresh right now at farms around Harvard. Best for us is walking to Carlson Orchards and getting fruit grown half a mile for the house. No ships or planes needed!

My house had heat pumps on one side when I moved in, but they didn't cover the other half. This summer I had the a second outdoor unit with two heads installed, and upgraded the exiting outdoor to the more efficient hyper-heat type, which I probably wouldn't have done were it not necessary to qualify for the $10k whole-home reabte.  I do like the fact that I'll be able to use the system for heating now instead of oil, but I have to say my primary motivation was to get AC in the bedrooms that didn't have it.  And on that front alone, it is certainly worth it.   The system cools the whole house quite effectively, even places you would think are too far away from any of the heads.  It's also a lot quieter than I would have thought, which is nice.  I'll probably be switching them over to heating mode soon so we'll see how that goes.  I engaged a few different places trying to get quotes and Denommee was by far the most responsive and organized.  They were easy to work with during the installation as well, so I would definitely recommend them. 

It came to my attention when remodeling a bathroom that the insulation in the attic was insufficient, to say the least.  Dolphin Insulation (Littleton MA) came up with a great solution for the house, which includes a section with an attic but also a section with cathedral ceiling.   They clearly care about doing the job right, and are as focused on energy efficiency as I am!

The house was so well sealed that it became clear that the windows were in need of replacement.  Dolphin introduced me to Intus Windows, triple-pane windows manufactured in Europe.  They are beautiful and, of course, extremely energy efficient.

We added a full solar panel installation to our home in early 2020, after vetting and reviewing several vendors and quotes during the previous six months. New England Clean Energy out of Hudson, MA won our business and did a superb job with installation and with getting the paperwork filed with the state and electric company for our admittedly oversized installation. We chose to oversize the installation to make full use of our roof area and feed back the excess to the grid for credits, refunds, and rebates. Most Spring/Summer/Fall months we generate credits with the electric company, which we then use up over the Winter months when the panels are frequently snow-covered. Our ROI is under a dozen years and the few problems encountered early on were quickly and professionally handled by NECE. If you have a decent sunny space on your roof or land, we highly recommend the investment in solar technology.

When upgrading our kitchen appliances in 2013 my gourmet cook spouse really wanted to move from an electric stovetop (older Jennaire) to a gas (propane) cooktop. Nervous about piping propane into the house, I suggested we look into an induction cooktop (consumer versions were still a new idea then). Despite having to replace over half our pots and pans, we love love love our Thermador Freedom Induction cooktop. It heats as quickly as gas and provides the same control - turning heat up or down reacts as quickly as gas. And we don't have to worry about gas leaks or burners being left on or the dangers of residual heat from a older-style electric burner. We highly recommend considering this upgrade to a stove or stovetop when installing or remodeling a kitchen.

Switched all fluorescent bulbs to LED at my home.

Backyard composting was second hand to me. Growing up in Billerica, we always had a compost pile thanks to my mom. She grew up in England and it was part of her family tradition to reuse and recycle in order to save money for a large family. Establishing environmentally friendly traditions makes it easier for the next generation to continue those traditions, allowing one to build on another.

Well I guess one could say I'm into this: 

Installed 12kw of solar electricity in 2009 & 2011 (haven't had an electric bill charge in several years)

Bought an EV in 2013 (Volt) and 2021 (Polestar) mostly charge them off solar production 

Installed geothermal heating/cooling in 2018.  Runs off solar production. Desuperheating tank preheats domestic hot water.

House converted to LED light (Yay gallium nitride!) and MassSave helped insulate the heck out of the attic to qualify for geothermal subsidy.

Been an avid fireplace insert user (firewood is generally considered carbon neutral) and it was usually our primary heat source before geothermal installed.

Composting, errand consolidation and other random minor adjustments have been generally followed to minimize our impact on the planet.

Changed all the old halon lighting in our kitchen for LEDs, come as a fitted unit so new baffles too. Looks great. Saves loads of electricity. But also the new baffles insulate the ceiling better. Saving even more energy. And in the summer the LEDs don't get as hot as the old halon bulbs, so less need to run air conditioning. Double plus good!

I bought into the EGO system when I moved in in 2020.  I have the push mower, the chainsaw, and the multi-head thing which can be a weedwacker, polesaw, or hedgetrimmer depending on attachment.  The part of my property that I mow is about 0.5 acres, and it takes 2-3 of the 10Ah batteries to get through that, depending on the conditions.   It's about a 2 hour activity, so probably about the upper limit of what you'd want to do with that particular mower, but it works pretty well.  It's quiet and easy to turn on and off when you need to.   The other tools have all worked well for me too.  Trees really like to fall down on my yard, and so far I've been able to dismantle all of them with said equipment.

We get a MassSave energy assessment every 8-10 years. Every time they find something we can do to be better energy consumers. They're also very generous with providing energy-conserving LED lightbulbs,  and water-conserving shower heads, etc. Highly recommend!

I had worked with Wilson Brothers (Pepperell MA) for many years when it came time to replace the central airconditioning unit we had purchased from another vendor in 2003.    Despite the supply chain challenges of the COVID-19 era, and a challenging attic to work in, they installed a heat pump that provides air conditioning, as well as heat down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  Wilson Brothers is easy to work with and kind and professional in all their interactions with me.

we have been CSA members at Westward Orchard for a few years now.  We love going in, being known by name and knowing our food came from our zip code.  We also love the adventure of finding new recipes to go with whatever comes in the box each week.  

I have been a member of the Bromfield Green Team for four years now, and it has been a great opportunity to make contributions toward a more environmentally friendly community. Previous projects I have worked on include installing no-idling signs, replacing invasive plants with native plants and starting a composting system at the school. 

When we moved to town in the fall of 2015, the first thing we did was install solar on our new home. We had installed solar on our previous home and found it to be an excellent investment. We were also able to leverage incentives to help others install solar. It is of benefit to our farm business that we can tell customers that our entire farm is powered by the sun.

I had a 40-panel, 12kWAC system installed in May.  I originally had signed a deal with one of the big national companies, but it broke down when they wouldn't install as large of a system as I wanted.  If you don't know, the MA law was changed about a year ago to raise the net metering cap exemption from 10kWAC to 25kWAC.  However, because the DPU is taking its sweet time officially issuing the corresponding updated guidance to National Grid, you can't get full net metering on a system that size yet.  So for the time being, even though the law has changed, you still have to install a >10kW system as a "qualifying facility (QF)", which gives you a less favorable net metering rate.  The original company wouldn't do a QF installation.  Figuring all that out and dealing with it was exactly as fun as it sounds, but New England Clean Energy were very knowledgeable about the situation and very responsive, so I ended up switching to them.  They were really well-organized and easy to deal with, so the installation went well.  I didn't worry about the looks too much originally, but now I kind of think the house actually looks a little better with the panels on it.  After about a 3-month wait, I got my permission to operate and I can make about 50-60kWh on a good day.  Now I'm just waiting for my correct net metering rate to come through.

We have enjoyed our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share boxes from Westward Orchards for many seasons now. Support your local farm, your community and the earth! 

We got so much helpful advice from our free Mass Save assessment and then significant savings on new insulation throughout the energy leaking areas of our 1950s house. We felt the difference immediately -- much cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. 

I was very pleased to work with Worth Robbins to join Harvard Solar Garden II.  The Harvard Solar Garden iniative is a tribute to the hard work of Worth and others.  I appreciate Paul Green taking the leadership position after Worth passed away.

I tell anyone who will listen, regardless of where they live, about how great it is to have Harvard Solar Garden in our town.

We've had an electric car for a couple years now and it has worked out pretty well.  Since neither my wife nor I have to be at our office every day, usually whoever is going to work that day takes it, and we try to mostly use that one.  Then we use the gas car more for longer trips  to the middle of nowhere or when we have to haul kayaks and furniture and such.  We have a Model 3 and I think it's been pretty thoroughly reviewed at this point.  It does have its flaws, but there's a reason it's a popular car.  I'll probably replace the gas SUV with an electric at some point as well, but right now there's not really anything with the same cargo capacity at a price that makes sense.  I'm keeping an eye out.

Being in town center limits our use of solar panels (historic district rules) but we have used our landscape to increase native and pollinator plants, leave brush & dying trees for wildlife shelter, high mow only a bit of our space, compost, and battle invasive plants (a constant). Having rebuilt our house 25 yrs ago we included energy-efficient appliances (including washer, using only cold water); we have no dryer but hang clothes outside and in (for humidification). We have double pane windows and some in-house storms; have verified in-place systems with an energy audit. Lots more can be done; thanks for the many ideas in testimonials here.

We felt it was important to cut our emissions with an electric car and have been thrilled with our Tesla. We expected the gas savings, but we hadn't thought about how much we would save on repairs due to no gas engine.  It's wonderful.  After several years, our only significant cost has been new tires.  We are now looking at e-vehicle options for car #2, or possibly going to one car.